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The work is being done in Turkey as there a number of specialised carpenteers, still used on working on wood shells, ara available.

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That is a major issue. My grandfather was a shipwright at yards in San Francisco. I regret that I didn't pay more attention to his work when I had the chance. He learned the trade on a small island east of Trieste Italy before migrating to to the US. He did learn to work with plywood but there wasn't much call for it after World War II since everyone knew those boats had a limited life. Thankfully, he retired just before the wood boat builders shut down or switched to fiberglass or metal.

It is definitely a lost art in the US today for vessels anywhere near Calypso's size -- even though she was build here. It is very hard to obtain the quality of wood required even if the skills and large steam bending facilities were available. Not many naval architects here could detail it on their 3D CAD programs and you can't download CNC programming to eShipwright machinery.

I believe you are right. There aren't many old growth trees left. Nearly all the wood here is harvested after 20-30 years, which is the most efficient for paper and wood-frame construction. "Young" lumber like this doesn't have the narrow and tight growth rings of older trees so isn't as strong or rot resistant. Old growth lumber is eye-watering expensive, when you can find it. We still have a lot of forrest between Northern California and the Canadian Border but virtually all of it is on it's 3rd or 4th harvest.

The era of one group monopolizing the public's attention on the oceans and being seen as a unique authority has gone. When Cousteau first started out with Calypso underwater footage on TV was virtually non-existent and in the sixties and seventies it was something that you had to watch out for, now any day of the week underwater action on TV is very commonplace. Even Cousteau had competitors in later years, albeit on a smaller scale such as John Stoneman, but now equipment and underwater cameras are available to everyone especially with the rise of digital recording and the virtual disappearance of film. Thus Calypso is the symbol of an era, but even if it had not been sunk would people still view it as being the same thing if it was stripped out and refitted as an interpretive experience and conference center with completely revised internal spaces? I don’t think so.